Benue State’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill: Where are the Priorities? by Ekene Odigwe

Benue, a
North-Central Nigerian State becomes more prominent in recent times for so many
wrong reasons. It is a state with a population of 4,253,641 as of 2006 census.
With farming as the main occupation, the state can be credited for cash crops
such as potatoes, cassava, soya bean, guinea corn, flax, yams, sesame, rice,
groundnuts and palm nuts. Its closest neighbour to the north is Kogi State and
to the east, Enugu State.

In the past, the
state has been plagued by flooding during which the dailies and social media
were full of gory details about how 100,000 were displaced. In that time,
Nigerians, young and old, straight and gay, black and white united to save
these 100,000 human beings because it was the most humane thing to do. Everyone
was reaching out through any means – from social media campaigns to radio
discussions – to send relief materials across. By February 10, 2018, the first
revealing story hit the paper stands. Fraud after Flood: How Relief
Materials for Benue Victims were Diverted. In his usual unsteady and
uncanny behavior the governor dismissed that on the ground that it was the work
of his opposition.

Well, from
2017 to 2018, this same state has been home to stories about alleged Fulani
herdsmen attacks. But we all know that the ‘alleged’ is just
another play on words and another excuse to derail from taking proper action
against the culprits. From a mass burial held on Thursday January 11, 2018 for
72 people killed in fighting between nomadic herdsmen and farmers in Makurdi to
the victims of January 1, 2018 attack that also left 500,000 persons displaced,
the state was filled with fear and tears.

As if that was
not enough, on April 24, 2018, worshipers at the St. Ignatius Quashi Catholic
Church Parish in Ukpor-Mbalom in Gwer Local Government Area of the state were
attacked and killed by suspected herdsmen. This time, at least 19 people were
killed including two priests.

The latest
attack came barely four days after the murder of 10 persons by herdsmen in
neighboring Guma Local Government Area and the destruction of 300 houses by men
suspected to be military personnel in Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area of
the state. There were reports that several persons sustained bullet wounds,
while the invaders also sacked part of the village – razing close to 60 houses,
huts, and farmland, economic trees as well as food barns of their victims.
Let’s not even forget the 29 persons who were massacred on March 5, 2018 in an
attack at Omusu village in Okpokwu Local Government Area of the state. 14 of the
victims were women while two were children killed on their way back from
school.

These
killings are callous and unfortunate, some say, but what is even more
unfortunate is the possibility that there must have been several unreported
attacks by suspected herdsmen which have left hundreds of people dead in
various communities within the state in recent months. And on the premise of
all that has been said, someone would have expected the legislators and the
executive of the state to rally round in building frontiers and making stricter
laws that will keep Benue residents safe – especially since the governor had
accused the big wigs in power of ignoring several warnings of the impending
attack on communities in Benue by herdsmen in a January 13, 2018 meeting with
the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Security.

The
Committee was in the state on a fact-finding mission on the attacks and the
governor told them: “We wrote to the vice-president on the planned attacks on
parts of Benue by Fulani herdsmen, because the threat was everywhere on the
streets, but he refused to reply. However, when Mr. President returned from the
United Kingdom, I intimated him through a letter. The documents are here”.

On the
governor on May 29 exonerated President Muhammadu Buhari from the herdsmen
killings in the state stressing that those linking the president to these
attacks were being mischievous. He said: “2018, Buhari will definitely come
here for campaigns. I cannot pre-empt what he will say or what Benue people
will say. But as you know in politics, there are no permanent enemies or
permanent friends but permanent interest... That the herdsmen are killing Benue
people do not mean it is Buhari who is responsible. There are still reasonable
herdsmen who still live here in peace with their neighbours.”

A confused
Ortom! Being neither here nor there: Standing between the devil and the deep
blue sea. Personal/political survival, even at the cost of the lives of his own
people! Here is a governor who was accused by the military of sponsoring and
arming a militia responsible for reprisal killings! Here is a governor who has
written to Buhari several times on these crises, without getting a reply! Here
is a governor who identifies Miyetti Allah as the culprit, but fails to hold
the Miyetti Allah patrons responsible for the continued genocide! What a shame.

In 2014, former
president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan signed into law a bill criminalizing
same-sex marriage in Nigeria. It was called the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition)
Act. Now, with all these killings happening in Benue, Governor Ortom and
members of the Benue State House of Assembly have pushed a lousy same-sex
prohibition bill into law. Jonathan in his time signed the bill into law so as
to seek favour among Nigerians who were dissatisfied with his government and
whom he knew would be easily swayed in the name of morality and religion. Ortom
has followed suit and now it’s obvious that if any politician wishes to run for
another tenure in office all they need do is legislate a law against the LGBTQI
community.

The
community is always a perfect scapegoat. So because Ortom has intentions of
running for governor again in 2019, he is after the LGBTQI in Benue State
instead of pushing for laws to keep the people safe and see how to ameliorate
incessant killings in the state. One would have expected that the lawmakers
will be more concerned with fixing this porosity in their security system.
Rather, they choose to pass a Bill prohibiting a marriage contract or civil
union entered into between persons of same sex in the state. This was passed on
May 30, 2018; just few days after countrymen and women had observed The
National Mourning Day. What happens to passing a more stringent arms law?
There’s not even any law on disarmament. Is this bill the first step to
protecting Benue citizens? Would the passage save or endanger more innocent
lives? Who are these governor and lawmakers?!

After the first
attack, the governor of the state had claimed that the presidency had abandoned
them and don't care about them only for him to turn around on Democracy Day to
say that the presidency has no hand in the attacks and has no idea of what is
happening to them, and how the attacks happen. This is when the presidency
argued they are implementing a combination of security, humanitarian and
peace-building measures in the North Central region of Nigeria that has
suffered banditry and bloodshed and has also approved N10 billion for the
rebuilding of affected communities. But the declaration as usual was a very
interesting maneuver to distract people from what is really happening. So with
all the killings, that’s what they could come up with? Oh dear. How does that
even influence the herdsmen killings? In the midst of all the chaos, all the
house could come up with is the passage of Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill
as if the all the killings in the state were the fault of the LGBTQI. It is
obvious the Legislators are confused and are all as clueless as the executive.

If you are a
young person and from Benue or any part of Nigeria for that matter get up, get
ready because it is time to send all old clueless beings out of our legislative
houses. We need to prioritize our issues and stop politicizing human lives.
With the passing of Not too young to run bill, every young person has to get
involve and start building a future for ourselves and generations to come.
Active participation, mobilization and citizen engagement should be the anthem
every civil society organization should focus on. As young effective leaders we
need to understand the bigger picture, because we don’t know or agree with
someone’s lifestyle, beliefs and philosophy is not enough to sign off on their
deaths. What happens to building a virile economy and combating terrorism and
youth restiveness? The world is changing so should us all, we should begin to produce
change that promote acceptance of gender and sexual diversity, the ubuntu
ideology teaches
quality that includes the essential human virtues; compassion and humanity,
let’s embrace it, let’s empower ourselves to speak to critical issues
and that are relevant, impactful, and empowering. Right here, right now safety
for all irrespective of political affiliation, gender, sexual orientation,
education qualification and location is our top most priority, we have had
enough deaths for this is our land, our home, our Nigeria.